Some fixes from the platform
Added ability to add sprintf variables to JText string

[writing it up now...]
Merge remote-tracking branch 'remotes/upstream/master' into patch-9
Merge remote-tracking branch 'remotes/upstream/master' into patch-9
Merge remote-tracking branch 'remotes/upstream/master' into patch-9
Added ability to use custom non-language string as first part (can be used for concatenating other strings)
Merge remote-tracking branch 'remotes/upstream/master' into patch-9
Use JDatabase instead of MySQL queries
Merge remote-tracking branch 'remotes/upstream/master' into patch-9
Merge remote-tracking branch 'remotes/upstream/master' into patch-9
[#30702] Only titles display in featured/blogged views when hide intro
text is selected.
[#30681] Error in Database tab in Extension Manager.
[#30697] Invalid tab end in article edit page. Thanks Dennis Hermatski.
[#30725] Exception thrown for empty path. Thanks Elin Waring.
[#30679] Fix two Tags-related API issues. Thanks Elin Waring.
[#30632] *Menu item Alias required setting. Thanks Jean-Marie Simonet.
[#29957] Administrator interface dropdown menus not working on tablets.
Thanks Denia Si.
[#30660] Corrects font-file stack order. Thanks Seth Warburton.
[#30668] *Beez3 missing JHtml::_('behavior.caption');. Thanks Jean-Marie
Simonet.
[#30398] com_tags show "{loadmodule..." when listing items. Thanks Elin
Waring.